First Reviews of “Doctored” Are Out

October 30, 2012

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

By Editorial Staff

As we speak, “Doctored” is completing its New York and Los Angeles theatrical debuts, and while what the Los Angeles Times and New York Times film critics have to say varies from complimentary to critical (as might be expected), more significant perhaps is that chiropractic is now being talked about in print and online by two of the most well-read newspapers in the country.

Add to that a reprint of the N.Y. Times review in the Chicago Tribune, and it’s safe to say that “Doctored” is already on the radar of millions of movie-goers / potential chiropractic patients. Here’s a taste of what the L.A Times and N.Y. Times reviews say about “Doctored”:

Gary Goldstein (L.A. Times, Sept. 26, 2012; reprinted in the Chicago Tribune,Sept. 29): “Though it’s mostly one-sided and sometimes plays like a commercial for the alternative medical community, ‘Doctored’ makes a cogent case for real cooperation between Western medicine and less traditional protocols. … [The documentary] presents a case that, despite mainstream medicine’s longtime crusade to brand it ‘quackery,’ it is a highly viable, at times superior alternative to standard surgery and prescription therapy. … A well-chosen array of practitioners and their vastly improved patients, whose issues include chronic pain, frozen shoulder syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, autism and cancer, offer enlightening testimony on behalf of chiropractic treatment. … ‘Doctored’ is an involving, well-crafted, humane look at a topic that stands to affect us all.”

Daniel Gold (N.Y. Times, Sept. 20, 2012): “Relying on numerous testimonials about successful treatments (including from the athletes John Stockton and Picabo Street) and harsh critiques by doctors of Big Pharma and conventional medical practices, ‘Doctored’ issues indictments of a market-based health system predisposed toward prescription drugs and surgery when less invasive, less expensive methods might be, heaven forbid, more effective. Seeing a series of ‘frozen shoulder’ patients, unable to raise their arms, suddenly regain pain-free range of movement after spinal manipulation is powerful evidence of chiropractic’s worth.”

Being film critics by trade, both Goldstein and Gold are also, well, critical of “Doctored,” of course, including Goldstein’s introductory comment that the film is one-sided and excessively promotional toward alternative medicine; and Gold’s contention that the film is “scattered” and that “in waving the flag for more holistic, naturopathic treatments, the already meandering ‘Doctored’ loses focus, touching on topics like alternative cancer treatments, autism and vaccination, and genetically modified produce.”

However, all in all, the reviews provide valuable positive sound bites that certainly can’t hurt the documentary both in terms of its ability to be picked up in other markets and its potential to be watched by thousands, if not millions more people. “Doctored” is out and the public now has the opportunity to learn like never before about the chiropractic profession, the Wilk case, and why drugs, surgery and the allopathic medical model is not the answer.

“Pain in America” Begins Principal Photography

Not to be forgotten in the excitement of the “Doctored” release, “Pain in America“began shooting principal photography on Oct. 1, continuing through Nov. 16. According to Donald Barrett, the film’s writer / producer / director, “[We] are going to the best and brightest in the field of chiropractic, as well as also students (tomorrow’s chiropractors), teachers, administrators and the researchers, who will help determine tomorrow’s modalities of treatment. Our cameras will take us to some of the most prestigious colleges and universities teaching chiropractic, as well as to pre-eminent members of the medical profession who have concluded chiropractors must take an important role in fighting the pain epidemic.”

For background on “Pain in America,” read “New Documentary to Tout Chiropractic for Chronic Pain” in the Sept. 23, 2012 issue.